In recent years, with the advance of medical technology and the yearly increase of average life time, it is a matter of course that disabled persons who are unable to use a part of their body properly would maintain the social life if they use auxiliary tool, such as a wheelchair, etc. The opportunity for the handicapped, elderly people, etc. to take part in the society is being increased.
In view of such a background, barrier-free environment for eliminating the inconveniences that the handicapped, elderly people, etc. feel in the social life is promoted. As for office automation (OA) equipment, such as image forming devices used in companies, public institutions, etc., there have been made various proposals for meeting the demand for barrier-free environment.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications No. 2000-214731 and No. 2005-010394 disclose an image forming device which is adapted for lifting or lowering an image forming device body so that the position of an image reading part provided in the image forming device can be moved up and down. In the image forming device of this type, the lower limit of the image reading part in the movable range depends on the height of the image forming device body, and it is difficult to allow a person who sits on a wheelchair to fully gain access to the image reading part from that condition. Moreover, the lifting or lowering mechanism will be made large with larger size of image forming device, and it will cause the cost of the entire image forming device to be increased.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications No. 2005-300872 and No. 2005-099567 disclose an image forming device in which the image reading part can be lifted or lowered to the image forming device body. Since the moving mechanism in the image forming device of this type is lightweight and small in size, the lifting or lowering mechanism will not be made large. However, the lower limit of the image reading part in the movable range depends on the height of the image forming device body as in the type mentioned above, and it is difficult to allow a person who sits on a wheelchair to fully gain access to the image reading part from that condition.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-194566 discloses an image forming device in which an image reading part of drawer type is arranged at an arbitrary position of the image forming device body, in order to gain access to the image reading part. However, when installing an image forming device in any of various installing locations, such as companies or public institutions, where the image forming device may be used by unspecified users, it is desirable that all people not only the handicapped or elderly people who use the auxiliary tool but also healthy person are able to use the image forming device without stress or inconvenience. Therefore, it is not appropriate that the height of the image reading part is fixed to one specific location depending on the installed location of the image forming device.